and go with your heart and go with your gut. that's what i did, and look at me now. >> good for her. good for her. that's cnn's chris welsh reporting. i'm deborah feyerick at cnn world a mad dash to the end of the race. president barack obama and governor mitt romney get ready for a face-off at this week's first debate. plus a couple of big surprises from arnold schwarzenegger who talks candidly about his childhood and the housekeeper. and an epic fail by the united states. after being up for a significant lead, the guys in the ryder cup lose big, berman. >> it was a disaster. complete meltdown. well, still, good morning. and welcome to october, everyone.

this is "early start." i'm john berman in washington this morning. >> and i'm sir riesirita simon. president barack obama and mitt romney square off wednesday night in denver. both trying to lower expectations practically gushing over one another, but new jersey governor chris christie is going against the grain and setting the bar high for the republican nominee. >>er time mitt romney has been confronted in this campaign with one of these moments, he has come through in a debate and performed extraordinarily well laying out his vision very clearly and also contrasting himself with his vision with hoomp his opponent was at that time. so i have absolute confidence when we get to thursday morning, george, you'll be shaking your head saying it's a brand new race with 33 dap days to go.

>> you almost never hear that. doing well in a debate. what on earth was chris christie doing? live from washington in an undisclosed location at the bureau, peter what was chris christie doing there? >> i have no idea, john. do you? this flies in the face of everything the romney campaign's been trying to do for the last few week. his senior adviser beth myers put out something saying the debates weren't going to impact the election and chris christie goes out and does what chris christie does and that's his own thing. i can tell you the obama campaign was happy to have chris christie raise expectations and raise the bar for mitt romney heading into wednesday's debate, john. >> a rare moment of honesty, refreshing in a political campaign. what then are the strategies of both campaigns heading into this debate? >> well, president obama has been in nevada a few days during the campaign. mitt romney in massachusetts sparring with rob portman who's

playing the role of president obama in these debate prep sessions. for president obama his foe mitt romney, massachusetts senator john kerry. they've been working on this debate for months and months. an interesting story over the weekend, a passage about what mitt romney's been doing. this from the "new york times." it says, "mr. romney's team has concluded that debates are about creating moments and has equipped him with a series of zingers he has memorizened and has been tracksing on aides since august." now, they're right debates are about moments but ain an amusin image. mitt romney sitting in a room peppering them with zingers. i would like to be on the wall hearing that. >> not about zingers, serious substantive policy. and in "the washington post" showing a virtual dead heat with

the president and mitt romney. obama with a slight edge. 49-47%. t also in this survey, it delves down into the expectations game for this debate. what can you tell me about those numbers, peter? >> reporter: despite what chris christie said, and that is sort of another mixed message coming out of the romney campaign, romney is winning the expectations game if you look at the polls. more likely to win the debate, president obama 55%. mitt romney just 31% of likely voters expect him to win the debate. that's a good place to be for him going in there, but like you said, there's a lot of stuff in this poll. sort of mirrors what we've seen in a lot of recent national and state polls. president obama has advantages on a range of issues, however, one thing tilting in romney the direction. interesting numbers in the poll. which candidate are you confident will get the country back ton track economically? president obama, 47%. mitt romney, 51%. now, obama's had an edge on the

economy in a lot of recent polls by a narrow one, two-point margin. not that much difference. interesting nonetheless mitt romney has a little edge there. a nice talking point for this campaign heading into this week, john. >> peter, live in washington. sorry we couldn't be in the same room, just too much raw energy. >> me, too. >> thank you, peter. moving on, the big mystery in tennessee this morning. where you two missing siblings. a 9-year-old and 7-year-old brother. grandparents killed in a house fire last week. it was first believed the children perished it's a well but no sign of their bodies found. on friday a statewide amber alert was issued for them. a taliban taking responsibility for a suicide. three u.s. service members among the three killed. 50 others wounded. the bomber targeted a joint nato-afghan patrol in khost city. this after two americans died

including the 2,000th u.s. military member to be killed during the war in afghanistan. a judge expected to rule later today on pennsylvania's controversial voter. >> i d. law. it's estimated the law's photo i.d. requirement to exclude 750,000 people from voting. the law upheld by a lower court but the state supreme court ordered the judge to assess whether all eligible voters would be allowed to obtain the allowable forms of i.d. and the jimmy hoffa investigation turns up nothing. waiting for tests on mud and clay examples before declaring it a total dud. a tipster claimed he saw what appeared to be a body buried at the site the say after the teamsters chief disappeared in 1975. >> you can skeptical from the beginning. >> please. me and a million other people,

right? and the carmageddon. the freeway back open. it shut down a ten-mile stretch of 405 this weekend. one of busiest highways in the nation. l.a. drivers asked to plan accordingly but there were no major traffic jams. >> that's good news. ah, i know. you're distraught over this. an epic collapse by the u.s. at the 39th ryder cup. the europeans roaring back from a deficit to stage a breathtaking 4 1/2 to 13 1/2 point win. sinking a five-put putt to seal the victory. europe's tseventh victory. >> we have to listen to peiers morgan now. and the super bowl champion

new york giants lost to the eagles and the eagles undefeateda dramatic win against the panthers. featuring two long bombs by matt ryan in the closing minutes. extraordinaire. >> i can't believe you watched it. >> amazing powers and inabilities to watch sports even if it means sacrificing sleep. another water cooler topic. arnold schwarzenegger puts himself in the hot seat answering questions about his failed marriage, his affair, his love child, and the fact that he performed same-sex marriages while in office. we're going to hear directly from arnold, coming up next. >> big. ♪ well, he's not very handsome

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welcome back to "early start." it is 11 minutes after the hour, i think. i'm john berman in washington. >> it is indeed. i'm sarita simon back here in new york. schwarzenegger says if his life was a movie, no one would believe it. it's all in this new book "total recall" my unbelievable true life story hitting shelves today. that affair with his fame housekeeper that led to the breap with his marriage with maria shriver. schwarzenegger spoke tab in an interview with "60 minutes." >> i think it was the stupidest thing i've done in the whole relationship. >> it was a secret he kept from his wife maria shriver and the public for years. >> it was terrible. i inflicted tremendous pain on maria, and unbelievable pain on the kids. >> the most painful chapter from

schwarzenegger's new memoir "total recall." the moment when he admitted to shriver had e had father add child behind her back with the family's housekeeper mildred. >> she then said, hey, i think that joseph is your kid. and am i off on this or not? and it is absolutely correct. >> shriver confronted her husband about the affair in a counseling session. >> you lied to her? >> you can say that. >> she remained the couple's housekeeper working for the woman she betrayed. >> even after you realized it? >> uh-huh. >> was that -- was that strange? >> very difficult, strange.

bizarre. everything you want to call it but it's the best way i could handle it. >> schwarzenegger writes of a "hot affair" with accurate brigitte nielsen, his co-star in the a film and was already living with shriver at the time. >> she knew? >> yeah. >> so it's a recurring issue? with you? >> i'm not perfect. >> affairs weren't the only secrets. schwarzenegger also admits he tried to hide open heart surge fri shrive aerpd says he didn't tell her about his run for governor until days before he announced it. >> she said, shaking, and she had tears in her eyes. that i was stepping into something that was much deeper than just me running and her being a supportive wife. >> she ultimate gave up her journalism career to campaign with her husband. years later, his time in office over, schwarzenegger says he'll also live with the regret of what he did to his family that

is something that i will always look back and say, how could you have done that? >> we tried to get a response from maria shriver but her spokesman said there would be no comment. i'd like to bring in christopher john farley, the speakeasy for the "wall street journal." thanks for being with me. you watched the interview. what you did did you think? >> the disconnect between schwarzenegger and his now separated wife maria shriver in terms of things are going on in his life he didn't tell her about. like, for instance, his planning to run for governor of california, and not telling her until shortly before, even though she is obviously from a storied political family and presumably have insight into running for an office like that and how much she gave up to be with him and support his dreams and his career, giving up her tv career temporarily to help support him in his run and really going to bat for him

against rumors that he'd groped women, that he'd done these other things. she was there front and center protecting him and he was hiding all this from her, until later on we find out he this affair with his housekeeper and hid that from her, too. so all that was interesting to hear from him directly. >> but we didn't hear anything from her. her side of the story. nowhere do we really understand how she feels about all of these revelations? >> no. it's all filtered through him, of course. he's the one being interviewed, the one with the new book. launching, relaunching a movie career. for now we're hearing from him and have to hope in the future maria shriver herself will come forward and say here's my take on what happened. i would have to believe -- >> do you think that will -- >> i have to believe there's more to say from her perspective. >> so it's a 656-page book. have you read it? >> i have read it. not the whole thing -- >> we don't really get the juicy details other than the

revelations he made. >> the book called "total recall" he doesn't seem to recall everything and from what i saw smenpends a lot of time o his body-building career, details of growing up in austria, something he addressed in the "60 minutes" interview that's interesting, the fact his father was a nazi storm trooper yet doesn't discuss that until schwarzenegger said that the war wasn't something that came up growing up, what his father was doing or not doing, and so that's something he really didn't have experience with. >> you mentioned something that comes up in the book that wasn't in the interview bep have more of that. he was asked about the wedding of his former chief of staff susan kennedy, a lesbian. listen to this and then we'll talk about it. >> did you go to the wedding? >> i performed the wedding in the office. >> you married -- >> i married her in the office, in the governor's office. >> then you must be for gay marriage? >> i don't have to be for gay

marriage. i'm for the chicest kind of wedding and ceremony i had when i got married to maria. that she happens to love a woman and i am, as a guy has love as woman, that is two different things, it doesn't make any difference. she should still have a ceremony. >> this is from a governor who publicly opposes same-sex marriage. were you surprised by that? >> well, again, if you read the book and watch the interview, there's a lot of contradiction going on in terms of him publicly advocating one thing or saying one thing to his wife and then going about his business in a different way. he's obviously a man with a lot of contradictions. at one point says he's not perfect. we see it on display again and again in terms it of his private versus public positions or positions in his private life versus things he's telling people in his prate life. >> i was surprised about this. in this book he writes he is optimistic that he and shriver will come together again. you've read it. wrap do you make of this? does he think they're going to get back together? >> it makes total sense and when

you see the whole picture of his life. here's a guy that really is a self-made man. a guy that came out of austria, became the world's foremost body builder. couldn't really speak english without and accent and yet became a huge global movie star. became the governor of california, and couldn't become president because he wasn't born in this country. who knows what else he could have done? doelg total bleaelief in himself. saying maybe some day he can get back with his ex-wife who i betrayed so publicly before. >> have you read the book? >> it's up to everyone whether to read the book or not, but it's a lot about body building. >> christopher john farley, thanks for joining me. from the speakeasy blog at the "wall street journal." nice to chat with you. >> wow. >> wow, yeah. >> wow. the details of the book, amazing. coming up, china's

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winners and losers and what we are expecting. >> third quarter, interesting. retail investors, people like you and me pulling out of stocks, so nervous all summer. but stock prices keep going up. i want to show you what happened to the averages. the dow, up 3.8% in the quarter. year date, up more thamore than. the stock portion of your 401(k) closely marrying, up in the third quarter. almost 13% this year. look at the nasdaq. the nasdaq this year has had unbelievable run. what has done best? energy, consumer discretion, like luxury, hotels. things you don't need but want. consumer discretionary stocks up 7%. financials have done very well this quarter. information technology. fed stimulus is rushing into the market. that's money finding its way into some of these different stocks and commodities as well. we've seen these things doing better and better. stocks and anybody with a

mortgage, stock investors, anyone with a mortgage did great in the third quarter, but savers, you have not done well. i want to show you quickly the flip side of this great stock market story. that you're getting .3% in a cd. >> terrible. >> .1% in a savings account and .12% in money market account and checking accounts, fees and fines all over the place. so that's what's happening with your money. >> an idea of the folks affected that way, that decided to go that route? do we not know? >> cds? that stuff? >> yeah. >> anybody on a fixed income, elderly people, doing what they're supposed to, save, getting nothing on their savings. >> you've got interesting news out of china? >> yeah. watching from china. several manufacturing reports from china showing it is slowing. the reason why manufacturing in china is so important is because over the past generation china manufacturing had become the barometer of global economic growth. why? china has fashioned itself into the factory floor for the world,

and when china slows down, that tells you that customer, slowering down on their orders. u.s. a big exporter. concerned about what that says about the overall slowdown. closely watching china. >> i know you are. >> i do, i do. >> thank you, christine, back to you. a story we've been following closely. a christian girl accused of burns pages of the koran in pakistan could soon learn her fate. the latest, just ahead. the ones who make us laugh, the ones with the strong shoulder to lean on, the ones we're named after, and the ones named after us. it takes all kinds of good to make a family. at new york life, everything we do is to help you keep good going.

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loaded guns and a commercial, coming up, how the firearms made into the aircraft,

and you'll never believe who was allowed to bring them on. and class, debate time in america. mitt romney and president obama getting talking points in order, and fine tuning their arguing skills. remember the girl pranked by being voted into the homecoming court? well, she got the last laugh. >> i've got to tell you, one of my favorite stories. >> good for her. good for her. >> yep. welcome back to "early start," everyone. i'm john berman live in washington. >> and i'm zoraida sam bow lybo. and president obama getting ready for a primetime event. starting last-minute prep for the debates. senator john kerry, mitt romney's stand-in, said to be traveli ining with the presiden denver where the first debate takes place. and mitt romney switching up tactics over the weekend backing

away from statements made to downplay his chances at the debates. with a brand new "wall street journal" abc news poll showing the race tight as ever. the stakes high on both sides. the national journal magazine and cnn's political analyst joins me now. good morning to you. i know you publicly watched everyone this weekend. you know chris christie, he didn't get the talking points mel memo, right? i want to listen to this and then talk about it. >> he's had a tough couple of weeks. let's be honest. i'm not going to sit here and come on and sugar coat of the last couple of weeks. they've been tough. here's the great news for republicans's we have a candidate who's going to do extraordinarily well on wednesday night. contrast what his view is with what the president's record is and the president's view for the future and this whole race will be turned upsidedown come thursday morning. you'll see the numbers start to move right back in the other direction.

>> i have absolutes confidence when we get to thursday morning, george, you'll be shaking your heads saying it's a brand new race. >> well soshgs much for the low aring of expectations. >> no kidding. >> republicans have incompatible leads heading into the debate. you don't want to overhype the expectations for mitt romney. it's not predictable. some years it matters. other years they haven't. on the other hand with all of the polling particularly the swing state polling being so negative for romney republicans have to gin up their base and say, looks, this is not over. don't file the election away. we are still in the game. in fairness to chris christie, he received to the other at the -- >> were you surprised? this is going to be a game changer? >> a little bit. i understand it. you look at yesterday a poll out in ohio. obama up. saturday in iowa, obama up. every state they're bone contesting, president obama is ahead.

republicans clearly have to give the message to the troops. look, this is -- we are still in this hunt and this is going to about reset moment. >> a lot of talk about zingers that perhaps will be created by the mitt romney team. the "new york times" writes, mr. romney's team concluded the debates are about creating moments and equipped him with a series of zingers he has memorized and has been practicing for days since august. we've seen zingers defining debates in the past. look at a couple of the most memorable ones. >> zingiest. >> there you go again. >> i want you to know that, also, i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. >> senator, i served with jack kennedy. i knew jack kennedy. jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you're not jack kennedy.

>> what are the risks and the rewards? >> i think first of all, their analysis is right. as i said, the pattern in presidential debates is there is no pattern. some years they've mattered a great deal. some years, remember anything about the 1996 debates between bill clinton and bob dole? they didn't matter at all. when they do, a moment rather than the overall tenure of the debate. before the words go by, it's water cooler talk. it's right there. if it looks too staged it looks too staged and mitt romney, one of hig biggest problems with the public, a questioning of his authenticity. if it comes across as a maneuvered, it's less effective. he needs to challenge the frame bill clinton built successfully at the democratic convention. maybe the commit isn't where you want it to be but it's better than when he first got into office. romney has an opportunity to cause voters to look at this

through a different lens. that's very important for him. >> president obama trying to lower expectations for wednesday. what he said at a campaign rally in las vegas yesterday. >> governor romney, highse's a man. but, what i'm most concerned about is having a serious discussion about what we need to do to keep the country growing and the source of security for hard-working americans. that's what people are looking for. that's what the american people deserve. put up his poll for folks. does it hurt him going in as a front-runner? >> wrote a piece about how often the incumbent stumbled in the first debate. expect igs ations are right. a good debater, not a great debater. when the year started, up until the summer, republicans thought

this was a referendum on the economy. voters dissatisfied with the direction of country inclined to fire the president. now republicans have essentially come to agree that is not going to be enough and they have to win the perspective choice going forward. this debate will be more about the next four years than the last four years and for mitt romney, his challenge is not so much to make the case against the president, certainly voters are ambivalent. the abc news/post poll shows us. a thin slice of voters not fully satisfied with obama first term, sticking with him nonetheless because they don't believe romney gets their lives, sympathetic to their problems and that's the real challenge for the challenger in this debate. >> all right. ron brownstein. we'll talk to you again. thanks. stick around. john, back to you. >> thanks. u.s. golf fans are still numb this morning trying to figure out how the coveted ryder cup slipped away. this is one of the worst chokes i have ever seen, ever.

call it the miracle at medinah, the american squad had an insurmount about 10-4 lead late saturday afternoon and end up on the wrong end of an epic, epic loss. honestly, began late saturday afternoon. starting sunday morning a long slide into niro bolivian. one of the worst choeshg wes have ever, ever seen. cnn had the misfortune of watching the whole thing. >> reporter: well, everyone pointed towards an american victory here in the 39th edition of the ryder cup. team usa, of course, had home advantage. they had players in fantastic form over the opening two days, and they had a seemingly insurmountable lead. 10-6 they led going into the final day's action but came up against a european team clearly inspired as they bull boze edozr

way to win 8 1/2 points from a possible 12 to win. >> phil played great, tiger played great. a lot of guys played great and got beat by a guy that played a little bit better. >> tough loss. no one want to lose but they played better than we did today. >> this compared to '99, that was fun. this was pretty miserable. a hell of a lot of fun being on the other end. it wasn't very much fun today. >> tried to get points on the board early. get them on the board and question that. so we sped through the rest of the team and -- can't believe it. an unbelievable feeling. >> world number one rory mcilroy nearly didn't make it to the tee. mistook eastern time for central time and was an hour behind schedule in respect was a lot of frantic scrambling. hitch add ride in a police car and eventually got here with seven minutes to spare. oh, and he casually went out on to the course and record add 2-1

victory over keegan bradley. that's how you do it zoraida. >> where's john berman? i was in chicago and managed to avoid anything that had to do with the ryder cup until i started reading your e-mails. >> so it's your fault? your fault? you were bad luck. you were bad luck. that's what happened here. honestly, the worst thing ever. the u.s. couldn't do anything right on sunday. it was just terrible. >> too bad. i feel bad for them, actually, instead of judging them. >> we forgive you. when we come back, talking about a homecoming queen who took a really terrible situation and actually the entire world turned it into a shining experience. we'll be back with that. longest lasting, full-size pickups on the road. so, what do you think? [ engine revs ] i'll take it. [ male announcer ] it's chevy truck month. now during chevy truck month, get 0% apr financing for 60 months or trade up to get the 2012 chevy silverado all-star edition

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top of the morning to you, atlanta. 67 degrees now. clouds and fog continues. rain and thunderstorms today. but i'm still going to say, welcome back.

good morning. welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm john berman. two loaded guns got past airport screeners in intolerable security lapses. in one case a new orleans hornets vice president, the basketball team, took a loaded handgun onboard in his checked baggage, on undetected. the other instance, a woman brute at firearm on in her purse. from the house transportation committee, he gets reports hundreds of items get by security every day. >> scary. a 14-year-old christian girl facing blasphemy charges. we'll have to wait two weeks to learn her fate paper accused of burns pages including for example a koran. the islamabad high court says the hearing should wait while they consider a pition to dismiss the case? last week the girl known was

framed by an imam that will appear at a separate court hearing today and he could wind up facing blasphemy charges now. over to ceia now. the crisis in syria, the spotlight on the final day of the 67en united nations general assembly session. the foreign minister will address the delegates and defend the assad regime's actions during the 18-month crisis that spiraled into civil war. joining us now, what are we expecting to hear? >> reporter: john what you'll flare the foreign minister is a vigorous defense not only of the regime's activities but they're fating terrorist activity, and lumping opposition and peaceful protesters into this whole rebel activity fighting the regime and call them terrorists and say, i think you have nations like qatar, saudi arabia, aiding the rebels. what you really have to do crack down on this funding and that's going to help with the political

transition. >> secretary of state hillary clinton has talked about her frustration over the fact there hasn't been a meaningful united nations resolution on syria and she talked a little about what she intends to do about it. let's listen. >> what is no secret, that our attempts to move forward the u.n. security council have been blocked repeatedly. on tuesday i met with joint special representative raheemy to discuss alternative strategies, but the united states is not waiting. >> alternative strategies. any idea what they might be? >> reporter: john, i think it's a lot more of what you've been seeing. the security council has been deadlocked, unable to get some action, possibly sanctions against the regime, basically what they're doing is planning for the day after. they're kind of strengthening the opposition saying one of the main problems is that the opposition isn't unified. they're working on that, working on trying to plan for the day after training both politician, civil servants to try to provide services in the event that the

regime -- and trying to strengthen sanctions in lieu of the security council being able to impose sanctions. working with a lot of other countries just trying to strengthen the squeeze on the regime. >> secretary clinton also committed some money. pledged $30 million in aid to syrians affected by the violence plus $s 15 million what they she calls non-lethal aid to help the opposition. exactly where's that money going? >> reporter: it's not going to the rebels or going to arm the rebels or anything like that. it's going to these local group on the ground that in some of these, what they called liberated area, areas that the regime has kind of gin up, or seeded to the opposition, how do you provide services? how do you provide electricity? how do you provide baking bread for people in lieu of electricity? it's also kind of trying to help them to prepare for the day in terms of a political transition, training journalists, all about trying to plan for the day

after, if the regime would fall. as we see, that isn't happening and the violence continues. a lot of death there. >> our foreign affairs reporter, thanks for joining us, z? talk about the last laugh. whitney kropp, nominated to her homecoming court as joke absolutely dazzled at the game on friday and had this to say to other bullied teens -- >> if kids are bullying you, do not let them bring you down. stand up for what you believe in and go with your heart and go with your gut. that's what i did. >> goodness, look at herrants look at me now. i'm just as happy as can be. >> that is fantastic. whitney's supporters including students from the visiting team wore orange to the game. her favorite color. and got a lot of support from facebook from all over are the world. look how she shines now. >> i love her spirit there. i loved what she said. you know -- >> such conviction. right? >> such conviction. she's committed to it. i think we all believe in her

now. thats great. >> she looks great. 47 minutes after the hour right now. bonnie and clyde's infamous gun collection up for auction and going for anything but a steal. talking big money, details after this quick break. can't stop e! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts.

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welcome back. 51 minutes past the howard bp get you up to date. here's christine romans with top stories. >> good morning to you this morning. you won't see a lot of mitt romney or president b ovobama o the next couple of days. john kerpy is playing the role of mitt romney in practice debates. mitt romney is in denver preparing for the first of three presidential debates this wednesday night. watch it live on cnn. justices of the supreme court convene this morning at 10:00 to begin their new term. this term, the court hears cases on a number of divisive cases,

including ar including affirmative action and abortion rights. and bonnie and clyde's guns sold for $504,000. bonnie's snub nosed revolver, $264 grand. and clyde's sold for $245,000. >> who bought them? >> and the notorious love bird bandits and went for more than many thought they would. interesting? >> no kidding. i'm curious who bought them. >> well, we'll see. last week, replacement refs blew a call that cost the green bay packers the game. yesterday it almost happened again with the real refs. after green bay had taken a lead against the saints in the fourth quarter, the saints clearly fumbled the kickoff, but the refs missed it. green bay had no challenges left. they went to kick the field goal, penalty forced them to kick again, they missed it and the packers survived.

>> imagine if the packers goes hosed two weeks in a row by the replacement refs and the regular ones? everything worked out like it should have. >> thank goodness. >> tell me about it. a check of your forecast. right no john marciano. >> back to hating the real refs like we did for years and years and years, after missing them for so long. a lot of rain cross texas. 's in some cases more flan jura three days than all last year. remember that awful, awful drought? four inches in rainfall in places of west text. much more in some cases than all of last year. they'll take the rainfall. where it was stretching across parts of louisiana including the sabean river and stretching into areas that could still use the rain. including parts of northern georgia. this pink polygon is a tornado warning across central alabama. radar no reports on the ground. rain wrapped, a dangerous situation. we'll watch it. the rain shield spreading across

the southern appalachians into the carolinas and that will bring in beneficial rain. soggy monday. some spots may see thunderstorms that could be severe across parts of atlanta and then cooler air, john and guys, i don't know who i'm talking to. >> john and guys. >> john and gals, more politically incorrect? coming at you. >> we're all here for you. thanks, rob. rob marciano and guys in atlanta. thanks very much. we have a jam-packed show for you the next hour here on "early start." how jam-packed? well, we'll tell you about a massive recall at general motors. talking about tens of thousands of cars having fuel issues this morning, and, oh, man, one of the stranger stories you'll hear about today, or ever. ears growing on arms on purpose. >> a preview. come to it tv. >> incredible, john. >> we cannot make this stuff up. up bright and early, why on earth that is happening. if you miss this, you will regret it forever.

so much more coming up on cnn. >> i thought they were joking yesterday when then said this was a story we had this morning. that is incredible. you get to the talk to elizabeth cohen about that. i am looking forward to it. first, if you thought your morning was rough, pob star justin bieber gets sick twice onstage in front of tens it of thousands of screaming fans. that story um canning up and trending. ♪ well, he's not very handsome ♪ to look at [ sighs ] ♪ oh, he's shaggy ♪ and he eats like a hog [ male announcer ] the volkswagen jetta. available with advanced keyless technology. control everything from your pocket, purse, or wherever. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ that dirty, old egg-suckin' dog ♪ that's the power of german engineering.

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58 minutes after the hour. john berman along with zoraida sambolin and what is trending on the internet this morning. >> harassed, too.

actress lindsay lohan says she was man handled by a congressional aide she met at at new york club and invited to her hotel room. chris labella, aide to john schenk is of illinois threw her down, choked her yesterday after she took away his cell phone camera. she said she didn't realize he had been taking pictures of her. assault charges against him were dropped. both filed harassment claims against each other. >> that is all over the place. >> all right. talk about bieber fever? pop star justin bieber kept on are positiving, even though he threw up twice during the kickoff of his national tour. gross. >> onstage. >> ah -- he even did an encore. >> discusting. >> afterwards he tweeted he was getting bet around added this line from the movie "anchor man," milk was a bad choice. >> i can't believe he kept going. you can't keep bieber down, even if he can't keep his lunch down. >> gosh. that's awful. i didn't realize we were doing

that at breakfast time on a morning show. sorry about that, folks. "early start" continues right now. the race. president barack obama, governor mitt romney get ready to square off at this week's debate. plus a couple of big surprises from arnold schwarzenegger. he talks candidly about his love child, and the gay marriages he performed while governor of california. >> and so much more. and an epic fail by the united states. after being up by a significant lead, the guys in the ryder cup lose big time. a re-enactment by john berman coming up. >> this is what i was doing yesterday. oh. oh. >> for shame. >> it was awful. awful. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to "early start" i'm zoraida sambolin in new york. >> and i'm john berman. sad about the ryder cup but happy to be in washington this morning. it is 6:00 a.m. in the east. up first this morning we are counting down to the showdown in

denver. president obama and mitt romney preparing to square off wednesday nit in the first of three critical presidential debates. both sides are falling all over each other to praise the other candidate to lower expectations for their own candidate, except for one guy, new jersey governor chris christie, who's setting the bar very high for his own guy, the republican nominee. >> he's going to come in wednesday night, have his vision for america. he's going to contrast what his view with what the president's record is. the president's view for the future. and this whole race is going to be turned upside down come thursday morning. >> the whole race turned upside down. setting the bar very high. cnn political reporter peter hamby joins me live from washington. exactly what was chris christie doing there? it doesn't seem to be part of the romney campaign playbook. >> he was being chris christie. even though the romney campaign approves when their surrogates go on campaign trails, he'll just go off the rails and say whatever he wants.

the expectations game for the romney campaign has been to lower them as low as humanly possible. you know, the romney campaign said flatly last week that the debates won't matter, which is sort of a ridiculous assertion. equally funny is last night in nevada, president obama at a rally told a crowd that he was a, quote, just okay debater. which is kind of amusing, because if you're president of the united states of america, chances are you're probably okay as a debater, john. >> what are these campaigns trying to do, peter with just a few days to go before the debates? >> the president's in nevada doing some debate prep with john kerry. the massachusetts senator, who's playing mitt romney in debate sessions. romney has been in massachusetts, with ohio senator rob portman. the obama stand-in. in his debate prep. he's going out to denver later today. the mission for obama is to come across, you know, show some kind of empathy. you know, he's always been criticized for being a little

cold and aloof. so his campaign is working on that. for romney, you know, he's got to fundamentally change the way this race is right now, he's got -- he's trailing by about five points in both states, and nationally. one thing that's interesting, "new york times" did a piece this weekend looking at the debate strategy and there's a line that jumped out to me. it said this, mr. romney's team has concluded that debates are about creating moments, and has equipped him with a series of zingers that he has memorized and has been practicing on aides since august. those of us, you and you, john, in particular, who've been watching mitt romney for five or six years now, are really psyched to see what kind of zinger one-liners that the former massachusetts governor comes up with on wednesday. >> we will wait on those zingers. the democrats jumping all over that line, saying this campaign debate shouldn't be about zingers but about serious issues. peter hamby live from washington this morning. thanks for being with us. zoraida? >> it is three minutes past the hour. former california governor arnold schwarzenegger is opening up about his double life. the deception of having a son

with his housekeeper and keeping it a secret from his now-ex-wife maria shriver. he not only has a new memoir out he also talked about the scandal on "60 minutes." >> i think it was the stupidest thing i've done in the whole relationship, was terrible, i inflicted tremendous pain on maria, and unbelievable pain on the kids. >> since the scandal, schwarzenegger has signed on to star in five movies. and there is no sign this morning of two missing tennessee children. a 9-year-old girl and her 7-year-old brother. their grandparents were killed in a house fire last week, and at first it was believed the children were also killed. but their bodies were not found in the rubble. a statewide amber alert has now been issued for them. at least 11 people killed overnight in a suicide bombing in eastern afghanistan. the taliban is claiming responsibility. nato officials say the bomber

targeted a patrol in khost city. it comes a day after two americans died including the 2,000th u.s. military member to be killed during the war in afghanistan. and the supreme court opens its new term this morning at 10:00 eastern. key issues, of course, may handle include affirmative action, same-sex marriage and voting rights. yesterday six of the nine justices attended the red mass at the roman catholic cathedral of saint matthew the apostle, that's in washington. it's held every year just before the start of the court's new session. and we are waiting for an announcement today with the latest in the search for jimmy hoffa's remains. investigators are waiting for tests on mud and clay samples from a home in suburban detroit. they searched under a shed there friday. a tipster claims he saw what appeared to be a body being buried there in the site the day after the former teamster chief disappeared in 1975. so, far, though, they've found nothing in this search in that driveway. and an epic collapse by the u.s. at the 39th ryder cup.

the europeans roaring bang from a 10-4 deficit late saturday to take a breathtaking 14 1/2 to 13 1/2 point win. germany's martin kaymer sinking a heart-pounding five foot putt on the final hole to seal that victory. it is europe's seventh in the last nine ryder cups. >> tied the biggest comeback in ryder history. >> look at that guy dancing. >> and awful jackets but they still won. all right, sunday night football, super bowl champion new york giants lost to the philadelphia eagles, 19-17 in a clash of nfc east powers. the giants attempted a 54-yard field goal in the closing seconds to win the game but lawrence hines came up short. the atlanta falcons are still undefeated 4-0. matt bryant's 40-yard field goal with five seconds left gave atlanta a dramatic 30-28 comeback win over cam newton and the carolina panthers. you know, matt ryan threw a big pass out of his end zone with

time running out there. and the real refs, they almost duplicated what the replacement refs did a week earlier. they nearly robbed the green bay packers of a win. after green bay had taken a 28-27 fourth quarter lead against new orleans, the saints clearly fumbled the kickoff. clearly a fumble there. but the refs missed the call and green bay had no challenges left. so the play stood. now, the saints went on to miss the potential game-winning field goal. so thankfully, the packers, they survived. >> you see the refs there rumbling with the players there. so they survived. carmageddon two is over. was it a success? that's coming up next. ♪ ♪ and the flowers and the trees all laugh when you walk by ♪

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have more fiber than other leading brands. they're the better way to enjoy your fiber. welcome back to "early start." 11 minutes past the hour. in just a few hours, syria's foreign minister will have his say at the united nations. he will address delegates on the final day of the general assembly. the crisis in syria has been front and center for world leaders throughout the session, both on the stage and on the sidelines. cnn foreign affairs reporter elise labott joins us now. elise, what are we expecting from that speech? >> i think he's going to make a vigorous defense of the regime's activities. you've seen him this week at the united nations meet with other kind of rogue states, belarus, the sudanese government, and he's saying, listen, we're in a fight against terrorists right now. he's lumping all the opposition, even the peaceful protesters, in

with these rebels, and insurgents that have been, you know, bombing a lot of regime facilities and he's going to say, listen, we need to crack down on terrorism, and you need to crack down on states like qatar, like saudi arabia, who are funding these guys. >> and meantime, we keep on seeing all of the atrocities coming out of there. secretary hillary clinton is hosting a friends of syria meeting, attended by about 20 of the world's foreign ministers last week and she talked about a upon alternative strategy. let's listen to it. >> but it's no secret that our attempts to move forward at the u.n. security council have been blocked repeatedly. on tuesday, i met with joint special representative brahimi to discuss alternative strategies, but the united states is not waiting. >> so this is in lieu of a resolution from the security council. do we have any details on what those strategies are? >> well, it's kind of a lot more about what they've already been doing. what they're trying to do is plan for the day after assad,

because no appetite for military action right now. so they're trying to unite the opposition, it's very fragmented and splintered, all these different groups. some armed. some not armed. some political. trying to get them together, helping them train for the day after and providing services and getting them together. >> the day after assad. all right, secretary clinton has also pledged $30 million in aid to syrians affected by all of the violence. how does that money go? where does it go? >> it's going to humanitarian aid groups on the ground. because syrian regime isn't letting, you know, the united nations, per se, get in. what she also did was announce $15 million for the opposition nonlethal aid. not arms or anything like that. but aid in what they're calling liberated areas. these are areas that the regime kind of gave up or seated and we're not going to focus on these areas. and it's trying to train these people, train journalists, train politicians, and train them how

to provide services. right now a lot of these areas aren't getting electricity. they aren't getting sanitation. how do you help the civil service help deliver services to the country so everything's not falling apart, and then waiting for that day after that we've been talking about? but as you see, it's continuing to spiral, many deaths, and while they're planning for the day after, people are dying right now. >> when is the day after? when is the day after? all right elise labott, thank you so much for that. we appreciate it. john, back to you. >> all right, 14 minutes after the hour right now. lots of news this morning. let's get the headlines from christine romans. >> with two days to go before the first of three critical debates, president obama is hunkering down in nevada, getting prepped with massachusetts senator john kerry. he's scheduled to fly in to play the part of mitt romney in practice sessions. the president trying to lower expectations at a rally in las vegas yesterday. >> mitt romney, he's a debater. i'm just okay. >> mitt romney is already in denver. "the new york times" rerts he'll be armed with several

zingers he's been rehearsing when he takes the stage wednesday night. you can watch the debate live, of course, on cnn. police in michigan suspect a woman who collected welfare benefits after winning the state lottery may have died from a drug overdose. amanda clayton was found in her suburban detroit home over the weekend. she was sentenced to probation this summer after admitting she continued to collect food stamps even after she won $1 million. negotiations between bp and the u.s. government have stalled now. the two sides are trying to hammer out a settlement for the 2010 gulf oil spill. a british newspaper reports the u.s. is seeking at least $1 billion, $3 billion more than bp is reportedly willing to pay. and the busy 405 freeway is open this morning as los angeles survives carmageddon 2. that was the nickname given to an intense repair project this weekend that shut down a ten-mile stretch of interstate 405. l.a. drivers were asked to plan accordingly and weekend traffic was reported to be light.

we have breaking news right now. in alabama, tornado warning issued for part of that state. let's get right to rob marciano. what can you tell us, rob? >> just issued from the national weather service. a tornado warning for coffey county in southeast, alabama, near elba moving toward the northeast. no reports on the ground but certainly a dangerous situation. we will see more of these likely as we go through the day today. lots of moisture coming in from the gulf of mexico and a fairly dynamic system for this time of year that's going to be rolling across the southeast. the rain shield itself is stretching across the tennessee valley into the piedmont and across the southern appalachians. some of this has been and will continue to be fairly beneficial rain. so we'll take it. texas in some cases across west texas, they saw more rain the last three days than they did all of last year. so you'll want to talk about finally finishing off that drought. they're making good inroads there. so here's your severe weather threat. alabama where the tornado

warning is out. the pensacola area and the panhandle of florida. it does stretch up into chattanooga and atlanta throughout the afternoon today. as this storm makes its way up across the appalachians. just north of d.c. for the most part will be rain free but the rains will stretch towards you tomorrow, and then behind this system is some cooler air. i think the main weather headline here going forward is it is october 1st, and it will certainly start to feel like fall across a good chunk of the u.s. here over the next two weeks. temperatures expected to be below average. enjoy your 69 degrees in chicago, 72 degrees dry day in new york. the rain from the southeast will be rolling up toward the northeast. so cal 98. >> go west, folks, go west. >> exactly. >> thank you, rob. >> you got it. all right it is 17 minutes after the hour right now. coming up, china's manufacturing industry is slumping. that's right. we said it. our own christine romans has the details coming up next.

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it is 21 minutes past the hour. we are minding your business this morning. u.s. stock futures are up. today marks the start of the new quarter. christine has a look at the winners and the losers in the last three months, and what we're expecting for the rest of the year in the market. >> i sure hope that individual investors were a part of this rally. i know for some months now individual retail investors like you and me have been pulling their money out of stocks because they're so nervous about the economy. but stocks have been going up and it was a really good quarter. for the dow up about 4% in the quarter. for the s&p up almost 5%. for the nasdaq up almost 5%. when you look at those over the

course of the year. >> look at this. >> stock investors have been credited here with a pretty good performance. i want to look at some of the widely held stocks. stocks that are in a lot of mutual funds. apple is up more than 11%. exxon mobile, that's a big oil company, up 6%. ge up 11. you can read them all for yourself. microsoft down a little bit. that's how some of those -- the big widely held stocks performed in the quarter. apple is up 62% year-to-date. what's doing all of this is the fed. pushing money into the system. it's been very good for stock investors. it's been very good if you own a home, because mortgage rates just keep going down, down, down. it's not very good if you're a saver. and this is what i hear a lot from people. wait i'm getting close to retirement, i'm putting my money into super low risk investments and this is what you're getting. nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing on those interest rates for those. so that's what we're watching in terms of how your money fares for you in the third quarter. and what happens going forward. we'll have to wait and see. stocks so far have defied, you

know, defied gravity. so a lot of things around the world we're watching cause for concern. >> you've got some concerns about china. >> the manufacturing data out of china showing that that economy is slowing. the manufacturing growth is slowing. china's not slowing. let me be clear. china is still growing, just not as quickly as it has been. and so we've been watching each one of those reports come out and tell us, you know, things, factory activity there is not doing as well as it had been in the past. and china, of course, is a big barometer for the rest of the world. when china slows it means customers aren't buying as much, that means america's customers probably aren't buying as much, too. >> at what point do we feel some of that? one thing we need to know about our money today? >> the one thing you need to know, money is super cheap for car buyers, zoraida. never have -- never, ever, have we seen auto loan financing rates so low. even buyers with low credit scores. lower credit scores are finding more affordable to buy a car right now.

zero interest in maybe 10% of loans are zero interest loans. even people who are called the b-class or b-tier borrowers, maybe 650 credit score, even they are getting really cheap financing. >> that might be a little risky, right? >> it's the fed pushing money into the system which is keeping rates low for homes, rates low for cars, rates low for savers, and pushing stocks up. so that trend's continuing right now. >> all right, christine romans. thank you very much. john? >> all right, thanks, guys. cities across the country facing growing financial pressures, and local governments, boy do they need help. one company, code for america, is trying to bring the tech world into city hall to turn it all around. take a look. >> i'm dr. sanjay gupta. meet jennifer, founder of code for america. it's kind of a peace corps for geeks. >> really geeks have changed the world so much in the past 10 or 20 years that they haven't

changed government yet. we get people to take a year off. it's designers, products managers, the people from the technical industry, and we get them to work with people in city hall to solve problems in cities for a year. >> she wants to fix local government. one smartphone app at a time. this sunday on "the next list." >> do not miss "the next list" sunday 2:00 p.m. eastern time. and get this, he just doesn't have time to explain it. paul ryan gives a surprising answer when asked about mitt romney's tax plan. you will have to hear this, coming up.

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...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. loaded guns on a commercial plane. coming up, how the firearms made it onto the aircraft, and you will never believe who was allowed to bring them on. plus, it's debate time in america. mitt romney and president obama are getting their talking points in order. and they are fine-tuning their arguing skills. and remember the girl who was pranked by being voted into the homecoming court? well, she got the last laugh. it is wonderful. >> and she looks great. >> absolutely. welcome back to "early start,"

i'm john berman in washington. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin in new york. 29 minutes past the hour here. president obama and mitt romney getting ready for a make or break prime-time event. after campaign rally last night the president went to a resort just outside of vegas to start last-minute preps for the debate. senator john kerry, his mitt romney stand-in, said to be traveling with the president to denver, where the first debate takes place. it's on wednesday. of course you can watch it live right here on cnn. on the other side, mitt romney's campaign switching up their tactics over the weekend. backing away from statements meant to downplay their candidate's chances at the debate. and with the brand-new "washington post"/abc news poll showing the race tight as ever this morning, take a look at that folks, the stakes are high on both sides. ron brownstein is the editorial general of the national journal magazine and cnn's senior political analyst. >> good morning. >> i want to start with chris christie. because he went all rogue and we're used to seeing that, right? but he apparently did not get the memo about managing the expectations for mitt romney.

let's listen. >> well, he's had a tough couple of weeks, let's be tonnest. i'm not going to sit here and come on this morning and sugar coat the last couple of weeks. they've been tough. but here's the great news for republicans. we have a candidate who is going to do extraordinarily well on wednesday night. he's going to contrast what his view is with what the president's record is. the president's view for the future. and this whole race is going to be turned upside down come thursday morning. wednesday night is the restart of this campaign and i think you're going to see those numbers start to move right back in the other direction. so i have absolute confidence when we get to thursday morning, george, you're going to be saying it's a brand-new race. >> wow. >> yeah. >> that's a change in approach. >> first of all, that's chris christie's shtick, the voice from the bleachers, ralph kramden, telling you the truth without any varnish on it. in fairness to him republicans at this point do have competing and somewhat incamp patible goals. they don't want to overhype the expectations for what romney can do. the debates have been sometimes

important, sometimes not. on the other hand, romney has been trailing in all the public national polling, and battleground state polling, and they do need to jolt their supporters into saying look, this isn't over. don't tune out, we are still in this race. >> how important do you think it's going to be? >> you know the answer is there's no way to tell. the debates have oscillated between being very important some years and being not so important others. the 1996 debate between bob dole and bill clinton. quick, name a defining moment. but i do think there is an opportunity here for mitt romney. his challenge is not so much to make a case against president obama over the last four years. there's no question voters are ambivalent about the performance. he's got to make a case that he can make the next four years better. we have a poll out, national journal poll. are you better off? are you worse off? or about the same as four years ago. among the about the same folks, people who don't say they see any improvement over obama the president is still leading by over 20 points. that is what romney has to change. >> i want to share something "the new york times" says. the romney team has been

included the debates are about moments and have equipped him with a dear riis of zingers he has memorized and been practicing on aides since august. we've got some here that we want to share. >> there you go again. i want you to know that also, i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience. >> senator, i served with jack kennedy. i knew jack kennedy. jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> so what are the risks and rewards of that type of strategy? >> well, first of all, they're right. i think, you know, the impact of the debates and primarily the remembered moments are kind of viral before we used the phrase, that kind of crystallize and reverberate the days and drive the coverage. that's right much more than an overall sense of someone was a

better debater over the 90 minutes. the risk, you look pre-programmed, packaged. that's a challenge for mitt romney in general. the voters not seeing him as authentic. that is a danger for him. the basic analysis is right, a memorable moment. particularly when it rephrased the debates by clinton saying, saying he took us as far as we could in one term. >> is the camp trying to reframe it because of the day after the debate right and all the conversations that are going to happen? >> right. what they need is voters to be talking about this in a different way after the debate. that's a tall order and it's hard to do in a single debate. but i think ultimately what romney needs to do is shift the focus away from were the first four years a failure? but who could make the next four years better for you? for a lot of reason, the economy hasn't worked, obama-nomics hasn't worked, that is not enough to get him over the top. >> ron brownstein, always nice talking to you. john? >> all right. thanks, zoraida. if you're looking for specifics in the romney/ryan tax plan,

maybe you have to keep searching. because paul ryan says, he doesn't have time to explain it. the republicans claim they can lower all individual tax rates by 20% and pay for it by targeting deductions for the top earners. but listen to what happened when chris wallace of fox news pressed paul ryan for hard figures. >> there's been a traditional democratic and republican consensus, lowering tax rates, by broadening the tax base works. and you can -- >> but i haven't given me the math. >> i don't have -- it would take me too long to go through all of the math. >> all right the tax policy center in washington has already studied the romney/ryan tax plan and concluded it is mathematically impossible for a tax cut of that size to work without either adding a tax burden on the middle class, or increasing the deficit. >> and talk about getting the last laugh, john. whitney kropp, the michigan teen who was nominated to her homecoming court as a joke absolutely dazzled at the game on friday. look at her.

and she has this to say to other bullied teens. >> the kids who are bullying, do not let them bring you down. stand up for what you believe in and go with your heart and go with your gut. that's what i did, and look at me now. i'm just as happy as can be. >> look at you now. super confident. whitney's supporters, including students from the visiting team, wore orange to the game, and that is her favorite color. >> so strong. love hearing her talk. >> it's really great. arnold schwarzenegger puts himself in the hot seat, answering questions about his failed marriage, his affair, his love child. and the fact that he performed same-sex marriages while in office. we're going to hear directly from arnold coming up next. mo. with the ability to improve roi through seo all by cob. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price.

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welcome back to "early start" everyone. 39 minutes after the hour. just checking the time there. >> i caught you. >> i'm zoraida sambolin in new york city. some of the biggest potential bombshell of arnold schwarzenegger's career but no one found out that he fathered a child with his housekeeper until months after he left the governor's office. now he is opening up about that in a new memoir hitting shelves today, it is called "total recall: my unbelievably true life story." schwarzenegger sat down with "60 minutes" to talk about the book, his life, and the mistake that wrecked his marriage to maria shriver. >> i think it was the stupidest thing i've done in the whole relationship. >> it was a secret he kept from his wife maria shriver and the public for years. >> it was terrible. i inflicted tremendous pain on maria, and unbelievable pain on the kids. >> the most painful chapter from

arnold schwarzenegger's new memoir "total recall," the moment when he admitted to shriver that he had fathered a child behind her back with the family's housekeeper. >> she then said, hey, i think that joseph is your kid. and in my -- am i off on this or not? and i said you're absolutely correct. >> shriver confronted her husband about the affair at a counseling session the day after he left office in 2011. schwarzenegger admits she raised suspicions before, but he hadn't been truthful. >> so you lied to her? >> you can say that. >> bayena remained the couple's house keeper, working for the woman she had betrayed. >> even after you realized it. >> mm-hmm. >> was that -- was that strange? >> very difficult, strange, bizarre.

everything else, whatever you want to call it, but it's the best way i could handle it. >> schwarzenegger also arrives at a quote affair with actress brigitte nielson. hiso-star in the film red sonia. he was already living with shriver at the time. >> she knew? >> yeah. >> so it's a recurring issue? with you? >> i'm not perfect. >> affairs weren't the only secrets. schwarzenegger also admits he tried to hide open-heart surgery from shriver and says he didn't tell her about his run for governor until days before he announced it. >> she started shaking. and she had tears in her eyes. realized that i was stepping into something that was much deeper than just me running, and her being a supportive wife. >> she ultimately gave up her journalism career to campaign with her husband. now, years later, his time in office over, schwarzenegger says he'll always live with the regret of what he did to his family.

>> that is something that i will always look back and say, how could you have done that? >> we tried to get a response from maria shriver about the "60 minutes" interview but her spokesman said there would be no comment. so i want to bring in christopher john harley the editor of a speak easy blog for "the wall street journal." i'm so happy to have you. what did you think of this interview? were there any surprises do you think? >> not surprises. but it was interesting to see how much he decided to hide from the public and his wife. you know, wanted to hide heart surgery from his wife. hiding this love child he had with this housekeeper from his wife. >> running for governor. >> running for governor. >> from his wife until the last minute. also, posted this segment on the web, hiding the fact he'd had these same sex ceremonies in the governor's office and hiding that from the public and finally revealing even though publicly he's gains same-sex marriage --

>> hold that thought. i want to play that so that everybody can hear it. it's something that was not on the "60 minutes" interview last night. >> did you go to the wedding? >> i performed the wedding in the office. >> you married them? >> i married in the governor's office. >> you must be for gay marriage. >> i don't have to be for gay marriage. i'm for the kind of ceremony that i had when i was married to maria. that she happens to love a woman, and i am as a guy that loves a woman. that is two different things. it doesn't make any difference. she should still have her ceremony. >> this from a governor who publicly opposes same-sex marriage. you hit the nail on the head. you have hidden things from your wife but you hid this from the american public. >> that's very interesting. because he didn't come out against same-sex marriage. he didn't come out for the definition of marriage being between a man and a woman. yet he was actually there

marrying, officiating over the marriage of someone who was a member of his staff. so that's very interesting, and i'm sure that will be something people discuss for days and weeks to come. >> oh, my gosh the perspective that we're missing here is from maria shriver, responding to any of these things. and how it was that she put up with it. >> i think the interesting thing is some people will find problems with what he had to say. but he's no longer a politician now. he's now a movie star again. he's got five films in the works. and there's a lower bar that the public will accept. because it doesn't matter whether they're going to vote for him or not anymore. matters will they still see his movies given what he said on "60 minutes." i think probably a lot of people say, well, movie stars, we expect them to act like this. we expect them to have wild times. we expect different things out of our politicians than movie stars. and we'll see whether it actually affects his movie career. >> you think we're going to hear from maria shriver? >> we'll see. she's obviously journalist, someone who knows how to put together words and tell her story. i'm sure there are a lot of publishers out there who would

like to tell her story. >> for a 656-page book some reviewers say it's pretty thin on juicy details. we got some juicy details from the interview. what did you think? >> well, i've not finished the book. but parts i've read he spent a lot of time talking about body building. he spent a lot of time talking about growing up in austria. and that part of the book is amazing. this is a guy that grew up in a house, that didn't have running water. that didn't have -- that didn't have electricity. and yet by the time he was in his 20s, he says he was a millionaire. of course we all know the story after that, becoming the number one body builder in the world, becoming a movie star, becoming governor of california. so it's an amazing story of coming up from near nothing to become pretty much mr. everything. >> okay this last question for you because i found this really surprising that he is optimistic that he and shriver will come together again. is he talking about them reuniting, married? i know that they're not divorced yet officially. but she filed for divorce. >> yes. a guy that can do what he's done and come from where he came from and see his name in -- a name

that big, on the big screen, he probably feels he can do anything, and convincing your wife to come back to you, maybe that doesn't seem as big as becoming governor of california. that's seen as difficult, and i wouldn't put it past him, put it past him to be able to sort of pull off things like that. >> christopher john farley, thanks for sharing your thoughts this morning. john? >> i can't believe he thinks that they might get back together again. soledad o'brien joins us now with a look at what's ahead on "starting point." >> all right, john, thank you. you heard zoraida and john christopher talking about that just a moment ago. we're going to continue our in-depth look at arnold schwarzenegger's first interview. his former press secretary will join us live to talk a little bit about the former governor. also the contradictions in his book and his interview on 60 minutes and his secrets as well. also ahead this morning, a man who was wounded in the colorado movie theater massacre, steven barton is now appearing in an ad aimed at getting voters' attention before the first presidential debate.

we'll show you what he says in the ad. and what brought together a half dozen hollywood stars, including meg ryan, americaer if rather and olivia wild? a new documentary called "half the sky" and it's based on the best-seller. they're going to join us both life later this morning on "starting point." we'll see you right at the top of the hour. >> thanks, soledad. y'all have to look at this picture right now. it is unbelievable. ears growing on arms. >> that's incredible. >> on purpose. >> what the heck is going on here? you have to say we're going to explain this to you. our medical unit will give you all the details coming up after the break.

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you are looking at a live picture of the capitol here in washington, d.c. i am in washington this morning taking part in some preparations for cnn's debate coverage. the first presidential debate coming up on wednesday night and cnn's coverage will be awesome.

you will not want to miss it. but before that i have to show you a picture which is just going to blow your mind. it looks like something out of science fiction. but it is quite, quite real. take a look at this. this is an ear that doctors at johns hopkins grew on the arm of a cancer patient. an ear growing on an arm. senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us now live from atlanta. elizabeth, we've been looking at this picture all morning. explain it to me. what's going on here? >> john, i don't know if you saw it, i went like this, still even though i've seen it so many times. it's such an eye-popping image. what's going on here is that a woman named sherry walter had cancer, skin cancer on her ear, and they neededo remove almost all of her outer ear. plus some of the structures that were inside because the cancer had spread. and so what they did was they thought, wow, i wonder if we could grow her an ear. they took some cartilage from her ribs and fashioned it into the shape of an ear, but this doesn't look like the real ear,

it needed skin. so they put the cartilage that was shaped into an ear under her arm and they waited four months. the skin grew over it. they took it out, and they put it on her head and she now has what looks like a almost looks like a real ear. i think you could still tell the difference on her head where her old ear used to be. >> what does the ear do? go ahead. >> i just wanted to note that they sculpted this even more since they've taken this photo. so it looks like they carved it out a little more, given her a lobe. i'm sorry, go ahead. >> what does the ear do on the arm for four months? it just grows? >> it does two things. one, the blood vessels during those four months have a chance to grow into the cartilage. and actually supply, you know, get a blood supply going. the other thing that it does is the skin needed that time, because they needed to be able to stretch the skin. it wouldn't naturally have just on its own covered that ear. so what they did was they inj t injected it with saline, in

relatively small amounts over the period of those four months so that the skin could expand and stretch over that structure made out of the cartilage. >> so is this just cos metic now or does this ear actually work? >> the ear actually works. in that they were able to reconnect some of the inner parts of her ear with this outer part of the ear, and she went from having no hearing to having normal hearing, and one of the great things here is that her body won't reject it because it's made from her own body parts. it's not somebody else's ear. >> amazing. i have to say, i've seen it, you explain it to me, i still don't believe it. elizabeth cohen live in atlanta this morning. thank you very much. >> thanks, job. >> zoraida? >> okay, that is like the story of the year, john. that is remarkable. 54 minutes past the hour. when we come back, the best advice from newark mayor cory booker.

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hour. we're going to wrap it up as always with best advice. here's christine. >> today's best advice we get from cory booker, who is the mayor of newark. listen. >> it was advice following a quote by president lincoln. lincoln said that everyone -- actually he said every man is born an original but sadly most die copies. and it was just the advice to e be -- to live your authenti truth. to make your life a testimony to the essence and truth of who you

are. >> you know he's quoted lincoln both times i've asked him this question. >> has he? boy that was genuine. >> it's second time in a couple of years i've asked him for best advice and both times he's quoted lincoln. >> interesting. >> that's it for "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. john berman is in washington, d.c. "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. morning welcome, everybody. our starting point this morning, debate showdown. nearing their first face-off, president barack obama and republican mitt romney hunkering down for intense preparations. we'll tell you why this first debate may be the most important of all. voting fraud in florida. election officials in at least 11 counties uncover suspicious voter registration forms. we'll tell you how the state gop is dealing with the debacle. and schwarzenegger's secrets. body builder turned movie star turned politicianar